Hi. I have finally finished rebuilding my 1960 Dommie 99 - it only took 4 years! So now I have the joy of running in the engine and gearbox after substantial rebuilds with various new parts installed. However, as usual, not all is ‘harmonious’. I’ve got a problem with selecting first gear. When sitting on the bike the pedal moves up to what feels like full extension but the first gear doesn’t engage. I can get it to engage by flexing my foot upwards really hard, but that’s not too comfortable. The easiest and most reliable way I’ve found is to use the back of my heal hooked under the front of the gear lever to pull the lever up. It’s the same whether the bike is at rest or moving, although going from second to first when moving is a bit easier. All other gears select smoothly up and down the box with no problem. I’ve tried moving the footrest and the gear lever on their respective splines to various positions but can’t get a satisfactory position that allows an easy first gear selection.
Has anyone else had this sort of problem? Any advice gratefully selected.
Thanks
Regards
Tony
I have had this problem ,in…
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Thanks Bob. My new gear…
Thanks Bob. My new gear lever is the same length as the original one - both are 5.75 inches from the pedal centre to the splined hole centre. I’ve worked out that I just can’t get the final bit of upward flexing of my foot that I need if I just use my toes to operate the lever. I’ve found that if I slide my foot forward on the foot peg I can use the area of my foot above my instep to lift the gear lever just enough to engage first gear. However, that’s a bit of a faff because I have to remember to move my foot forwards over the foot peg before changing down every time I want to go from second to first. It’s not a boot size problem for me as my boots are only size eight.
Regards
Tony
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Are you one tooth out on the…
Are you one tooth out on the indexing? I'm sure you'll have checked, but it's hard to think of another reason.
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Hi David. I think the…
Hi David. I think the indexing is ok because I can easily get first gear if I pull up on the gear lever by hand or use my heel to hook up the gear lever. Maybe it’s just that my feet are smaller than the average Dommie rider?
Regards
Tony
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5.75" is the same as my…
5.75" is the same as my orriginal lever , If you have an extra long primary chain it would shorten the distance between footrest and gear lever. a bit an make it harder. Had to think twice about that !!. Certainly old age has made my ankles less flexible . A really clean lifting clutch also helps easy gear engagement . I was like you resorting to using the back of my heel at lights.
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When you assembled the…
When you assembled the gearbox, did you file the slot in the inner cover as Mick Hemmings said in his video? It could be that the quadrant hits the bottom of the slot when engaging first.
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Hi Mikael. Luckily I…
Hi Mikael. Luckily I purchased Mick Hemmings’ gearbox rebuild video shortly before working on my gearbox so I took the appropriate action with a file to slightly enlarge that inner cover slot. The problem remains a bit of a mystery but at least I can now ride my bike even though first gear is ‘challenging’
Regards
Tony
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Bob. That’s an interesting…
Bob. That’s an interesting point about a longer primary chain making the gear change lever distance shorter. That makes sense. However, I actually had to remove a link from my primary chain and then add a half link in its place as the stock chain was too slack. I’m not sure if that is a contributing cause to the problem but it could be playing a part in it. The clutch operates really nicely (new complete clutch bought from RGM). Interesting that you too occasionally have to resort to the ‘heel change’ technique to get first gear!
Regards
Tony
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My guess is also that the…
My guess is also that the slot needs filling to get a bit more clearance.
dan
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I have had this problem ,in my case it was caused by new and larger boots . I have an orriginal long gear lever and have noticed that most replacements are shorter and these would be impossible for me. In the end I found a slightly lowered footrest with gears lever re-positioned made it just workable .I take size 10 . I will post what is the length of my gear lever. It may be you have a short one.